This invention relates to actuating devices for hand brakes and gear selector mechanisms for motor vehicle transmissions, in which a lever having a handle is mounted so as to be pivotable and the pivoting function actuates the hand brake.
Because of structural considerations, customary arrangements providing separate operating devices for a hand brake and a gear selector lever do not permit an ergonomically correct side-by-side arrangement for the actuating components for the hand brake and gear selector. These components therefore have to be placed one behind the other. This means that, when the driver's seat of the motor vehicle has been moved forward appropriately, short operators (about 5% of all operators) have difficulty reaching the hand brake, not to mention being able to operate it with sufficient strength. Tall operators, on the other hand, such as for example the so-called "90% man", can only reach the fifth gear by bending forward when the seat has been moved back to accommodate them.
European Patent No. 0 209 431 discloses a combined transmission and hand-brake control which has a common hand-brake lever for the selection and shifting of the transmission gears and for engaging the hand brake. A manual transmission is actuated by pivoting the lever forward, backward and sideward. A safety arrangement which can be controlled by an additional handle permits a pivoting movement of the lever for actuating the hand brake.
A selector lever for actuating a manual transmission which is provided additionally with a tension device is disclosed in German Patent No. 729 325. The tension device is located in the selector lever and actuates the hand brake through a cable pull. For this purpose, the tension device is arranged so that it can be pulled axially out of the selector lever, and the cable pull is flexible in a region between the selector lever and the connection to the vehicle body.
These arrangements have the disadvantage that they are complex in design and they require separate room for movement of the actuating lever to operate as a hand brake and as a transmission control. There is, therefore, no freedom of choice of the installation location. Furthermore, a safeguard is required to avoid inadvertent actuation of the hand brake when shifting the gears of the transmission.